


Instinct

by ThereisNoTragedyinThat



Series: 30 Days of Whump-Cherik Edition [9]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: 30 Day Whump Prompt Challenge, Boys In Love, Choking, Don't copy to another site, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Missing Scene, X-Men: First Class (2011), just before the beach divorce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 15:17:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19871761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereisNoTragedyinThat/pseuds/ThereisNoTragedyinThat
Summary: Ahem, when Hank chokes Erik and some thoughts are Charles's part about how the day might go.Day Nine: Choking





	Instinct

**Author's Note:**

> As always, link the first story will take you to the prompt list :)
> 
> Day nine: Choking

Charles could feel the crackling energy in the room, most of it being caused by Hank’s instincts. Seeing Hank like this, speared his heart and felt like yet another failure since his talk with Raven the night before. He should have been there, should have made sure Hank was alright and that the Serum was actually ready for human testing and now here they were.

He didn’t dive into Hank’s mind, wouldn’t be so invasive, but even just standing a few feet away, Charles knew more then just his appearance had changed. Hank was angry, frustrated, as he had every right to be, the problem was that it was all simmering too close to he surfaces to be entirely under his control.

Charles knew Hank was a nervous man, but his intellect meant he usually had fantastic control over himself, or at very least, baser instincts. This was an unmitigated disaster and while Charles was trying to reason that benching him was simply not an option for this mission, Raven was speaking.

For a split second that seemed to help. The insecurity dimmed a bit along with the tumultuous state of his mind. Charles even breathed a sigh of relief only for it to be cut off abruptly when Erik opened his mouth.

His own instinct had his mind wrapping with Erik’s, calling out to the familiar brain and thought process that he’d been denying himself these past few days, and so, when Hank’s hand wrapped tightly around his throat, there was a wild moment in which Charles was sure the same was being done to him.

It took all his self control not to step forward and risk antagonizing Hank, choosing instead to put a stopgap on Erik’s powers which had just lashed out automatically to protect himself and focused on speaking to Hank, calming him. Charles’s wasn’t sure what he said exactly, only that his heart was pounding, and Erik’s anger was sending adrenaline through his veins, and Hank’s lapse in control was all mingling in a sensation of too much.

Hank dropped him; Erik fell to his knees. Words were exchanged and Alex, instead of lighting the rift with more course words, offered his approval in a rare show of saying the right thing for once.

“Everyone board,” Charles forced out.

The children all began walking forward but Charles caught Erik’s arm, a hand coming up to tilt his chin and check the fair skin. Erik said nothing and he was grateful for it. So much felt wrong, too wrong for what they needed to do today. Raven was still angry; he could feel it. Hank was now unstable. He and Erik hadn’t shared a bed last night. Charles didn’t want to think about where all this was headed.

But this. This he knew.

Running his hand over lightly stumbled skin, searching for bruising and basking in Erik’s patient acceptance, even at a time like this. There was nothing, not even the pricking of newly sharpened nails, no shadowed illusion to future bruising, not even redness from to harsh grabbing. Nothing, spotless.

Charles didn’t move. Didn’t look up. Took a deep breath.

_I know._

Erik, in his mind. It was almost enough to startle him. Erik had been pulling away these past few days, trying to hide plans beneath carefully crafted memories and Charles wasn’t stupid and he knew where Erik saw all this ending, he’d been told over a late-night game of chess.

Maybe he was stupid. Because even now, he still believed he could pull Erik back from that ledge, that he would. Today would not end in bloodshed, he needed to believe that, or he wouldn’t make it through his next breath.

Don’t disappoint me. Don’t break my heart.

Erik slipped from his hands, used his own on the small of Charles’s back to guide him toward the plane. For a moment, Charles wondered if he should have projected those thoughts out loud, if they would help them reach a different end today.

He kept them to himself.


End file.
